1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing system and an information processing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image forming apparatuses such as multifunction peripherals (MFP) are known that are capable of implementing various advanced image processing functions with respect to image data in addition to traditional functions such as copying, printing, scanning, etc. For example, image forming apparatuses are known that are capable of performing an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) process with respect to image data scanned from a document (see e.g. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2014-32659).
However, restrictions are imposed on hardware resources of devices such as image forming apparatuses, and as a result, when performing image processes requiring a high processing load, their processing speed may be inferior to that of general-purpose computers.
Accordingly, in the case of performing an image process requiring a high processing load, the image forming apparatus may send a process request via a network to an external apparatus such as a computer having a relatively higher processing performance, for example.
However, in the case of sending a process request via a network, depending on the network communication speed, the transmission time for transmitting the image data to be processed to the external apparatus may take up a significant part of the overall processing time. As a result, there may be situations where the overall processing time would be shorter if all processes were performed within the image forming apparatus.